Revolve - Why Companies Should Have a Facebook Presence

Posted: 04.09.2011

Why Companies Should Have a Facebook Presence

Let’s begin with what ‘Social Media’ is. Social media is media used for social interaction through web-based technologies and turns communication into interactive dialogue. Businesses refer to social media as consumer-generated media, blending technology and social interaction for the co-creation of value.

Social Media vs Conventional Media.
In a comparative battle, social media is:

● fast where conventional media is relatively slow

● low cost where conventional media is relatively costly

● can be personal where conventional media tends to be mass-market oriented

● open, so “anyone” can do it, where conventional media tends to be corporate owned and initiated

● more comfortable to younger generations, where conventional media is more comfortable to older generations

● flexible and can change with the times, whereas conventional media is more institutional and fixed

What previously required deep pockets and a “spray and pray” approach to advertising can now be done in a much more targeted manner through social media, sometimes for a lot less. The smaller business owner is no longer at a disadvantage versus the juggernauts because money is no longer the critical factor in getting your message out and hearing back from your potential customers.

Facebook.
Facebook is only one of the many social media channels available, and if executed right, it is the most powerful. Facebook provides an opportunity to engage customers where they are, rather than expecting them to seek out your company. Establishing and maintaining a Facebook presence allows the company to interact with customers on a more personal level and foster a sense of community and loyalty. So why should your company have a Facebook presence and what is so great about the number one visited site in the world?

● Enormous User Base: more than 600 million active users (almost 17 million in Canada). That is a huge potential audience for your product or service. If Facebook was a country, it would be the third largest behind China and India.

● Global Reach: about 75% of Facebook users are located outside of the US and Canada, which opens the door to a worldwide market for your product or service. Facebook currently offers a translation function that renders its site into 70 languages, giving your advertising incredible reach.

● Niche Targeted Advertising: Facebook allows your ads to target users demographically and geographically, as well as by interests, likes and connections (to other facebook groups and events). Ads can be controlled by budget, duration, and can link to external websites, facebook events and fan pages. They can even be detailed enough to a 22-24 year old male who roots for the Toronto Maple Leafs, lives in Victoria, BC, watches American Idol, listens to U2, works as a waiter, and enjoys Mexican food.

● High Daily User Activity: on any given day, 50% of Facebook’s active users log in to the site. The fact that your ad will target those most likely to be interested in your offer will make it even more effective than if it had gone out to everyone.

● Large Blocks of Time Users Spend on the Site: Facebook users spend over 500 billion minutes per month on the site. To put it bluntly, Facebook is addicting. And you can use that fact to your advertising advantage.

● Influence of Facebook Friends: Ad and page “endorsements” by friends, made via the ubiquitous Facebook “Like” button, have incredible potential to create increased ad views and page interactions for your company. Users tend to assign greater credibility to ads and pages that their Facebook friends have “Liked.” That means that if people find your ad interesting or enjoy interacting with your company’s Facebook page, many of their friends likely will, too.

● The World’s Most Popular Virtual Meeting Place: Facebook is the world’s favourite place to congregate online, and that in itself is enough of a reason for your business to advertise and/or build a community there.

● User-Created Content: the focus on user-created content on Facebook encourages people to spend more time on the site, generating content and interacting with other people’s content. It also encourages more content sharing. Both creating and sharing content translate to more page views and a larger amount of topical content to which ads can be targeted.

● Shared Content: content passed along via the “Share” button makes its way onto users’ friends’ home pages and/or their Facebook notification pages (as well as into their e-mail inboxes if they’ve opted to receive e-mail notifications).

● Outside Website Integration: Facebook’s recent integration with outside websites enables users to interact with the site from other locations on the Web. That makes posting content easier than ever before and ensures that even more items will make it onto users’ home pages.

● Large and Active Mobile Market: the 100 million-plus active Facebook users who access the site via their mobile devices don’t simply have enough enthusiasm to engage with the site while on the go – they are also twice as active on the site as their non-mobile counterparts. This offers increasing sales potential to any business owner savvy enough to earmark part of the company’s advertising budget to Facebook.

What can Revolve do?
In a digitally connected world, Facebook is the number-one way to foster the connection between you and your customers. Whether you are looking to reward and retain loyal customers or attract new ones, this channel of social media is a must. Let Revolve help you do it right.

authored by
Yazeed Sobaih
Social Media Strategist
Revolve

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